Delas Freres Domaine des Tourettes Hermitage Blanc 2015

Producer Information

Founded 160 years ago in the heart of the northern Côtes du Rhône, Delas Freres today crafts world class wines from both northern and southern Rhône.

Tending the steep sloping vineyards, which total some 30 hectares of vines, the team adapt their growing practices to each plot of vines to let the terroir of the Rhône shine through in the wines.

Crafted by winemaker Jacques Grange (who is originally from Burgundy), the wines from Delas Freres epitomise finesse and elegance. Recent vintages from the vineyards of Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Côte Rôtie, Condrieu, Côtes-du-Rhône and Côtes-du-Ventoux have bee lauded in the press for their intensity of flavour and excellent value.

Vineyards

The vineyard stretches over 3 communes in the Drôme “department”: Tain-l’Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage and Larnage.

The Hermitage Blanc is a blend of three different terroirs: L’Emite, le sabot and La Tourette. The soils are a combination of granite with alluvial quaternary delta deposits and Pliocene marl. This diversity explains the numerous different names given to vineyard plots within the appellation: Bessards, Greffieux, Méal, Roucoule, Beaumes, etc…).

Protected from the north winds, the slopes are south facing and receive excellent sun exposure.

Winemaking

The harvest is carried out by hand in two stages. The juice is pressed “à la champenois”, by separating the free-run wine and the press wine. After a light racking, the must is put into barrel (new barrels, or used previously for one or two vintages) in order for the alcoholic fermentation to take place. With the aim of perserving the wine’s freshness on the finish, malolactic fermentation is sometimes carried out only partially.

The wine is fermented in barrel for 9 to 12 months, on the lees, with regular lees stirring. Two months before bottling the wine is blended, after which it is stelled and racked into a tank so that the different elements have time to become balanced and harmonious before going into bottle.

Vintage Information

2015 was a very early vintage. Nevertheless, night time temperatures were low over the weeks leading up to the harvest and the end of the ripening period was quite slow. Monsieur Bruyère (son-in-law of the late Michel Delas) began the harvests with the Condrieu whites between the 3rd and the 6th of September and Delas with the Marsanne parcels in Hermitage on the 7th and 8th of September.

Thanks to the dry soils, the vineyards were not affected by the heavy rainfall on the weekend of the 12th of September. The grapes from the low-lying vineyards were more fragile and had already been picked before the rainy spell.

The 2015 vintage is reminiscent of great years such as 1989, 1990 and more recently the 2009 vintage, but with more elegance.

Tasting Note

Buttered citrus, with white currants, racing minerality and exotic flower notes follow through to a beautifully textured, layered and full bodied white wine.